The sports entertainment giant of which she was once chief executive was accused of sexually abusing minors
The shadow of a lawsuit loomed over Linda McMahon, US President Donald Trump’s choice for education chief, as her appropriateness for the role was questioned by former employees of professional wrestling behemoth World Wrestling Entertainment, their families, and current former and current education officials.
In October, McMahon was named as a defendant along with husband Vince McMahon and WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings in a lawsuit accusing WWE of negligence in incidents wherein underage boys were sexually abused and exploited by then-WWE ring announcer Melvin Phillips Jr.
At the time, Linda McMahon was a WWE executive. The suit, filed in Maryland state court on behalf of five men who claimed to have been sexually abused while working for WWE in the 1980s, alleged that McMahon was aware of the incidents but took no action to stop them.
“Until she takes accountability and shows some remorse and some responsibility, then she shouldn’t have that position. She’s involved in covering it up. So what else will she cover up?” one of the plaintiffs told NBC News.
As Education Department head, McMahon will manage the department’s Office for Civil Rights, which includes enforcing child protection policies and the civil rights law Title IX, which shields students of federally funded school against sex discrimination. According to NBC News, those questioning McMahon said they were skeptical of her commitment to protecting children and upholding Title IX in light of what happened in the WWE.
McMahon has voiced her support for Trump’s plan to shut down the Department of Education. This could mean that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights could be shunted to the justice department in a move that the National Education Association, a teachers’ labor union, said in a statement would “severely weaken its ability to protect students against discrimination based on race, gender, and disability.”
At McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Thursday, Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin brought up the suit and asked McMahon how she would enforce Title IX in relation to allegations of sexual assault and harassment in universities. In a statement published by USA Today, Baldwin described Title IX as a “critical tool in ensuring that all students are protected from sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs” during the hearing.
McMahon responded that she would “uphold and protect” investigations into sexual harassment claims and said she didn’t believe that harassment should be accepted.
McMahon became WWE CEO in 1997 and held the position until she resigned in 2009 to run for Senate. Her husband Vince, from whom she separated last year, currently faces other lawsuits including a sex trafficking claim filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant.
